Telephone attachment.



Patented Dec. 26, 1899.

n. uuEEN.

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

NTTnD STATES PATENT Prion.

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,768, dated December26, 1899. Application filed August 1, 1899. Serial No. 725.795. (Nomodel.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL QUEEN, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Janelew, in the county of Lewis and State of West Virginia,have invented a new and useful Telephone Attachment, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to telephone attachments, and moreV particularlyto grounding mechanism therefor; and it has for its object to provide,in connection with a line comprising a plurality of instruments, meansfor cutting out the line at each side of the instrument to be operated,to reduce the resistance of the operative circuit, to reduce thedisturbances in the line, and to increase the efficiency of theoperating circuit in use.

The invention consists of a ground connection supported adjacent thetelephone instrument and in aposition for engagement with either of theline connections of the instrument. Attached to this ground connectionis an extension which when said connection is in operation lies acrossthe receiver-hook and prevents the placing of the receiver thereon, sothatthe subscriber must unground the line before hanging up thereceiver.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in yboth views,Figure 1 is a perspective View of a telephone instrument, showing theground connection connected with one of the line connections of theinstrument and the receiver removedfrom its hook. Fig. 42 is a sideelevation showing the ground-wire disconnected and the receiver inposition upon its hook.

Referring now to the drawings, 5 represents a casing for a telephoneinstrument of any desired form, comprising a switch-lever 6, projectingoutwardly of the casing and having a hook 7 at its outer end adapted toreceive a receiver in the usual manner. Leading from the casing 5 andthe instrument therein are line-wires S and 9, connected withbinding-posts 1() and 1l, involving screws 12 and 13, through the mediumof which latter the terminals of the line-wires are held in theirrespective binding-posts. The casing 5 is mounted upon a suitable base15, intermediate which and the wall or other support for the base arearranged and held the parallel portions 16 and 17 of a spring-Wire whichprojects `upwardly above the base 15, where they are provided withspring-loops 17, from the terminals of which the body of the wirecomprising elements 1S and 19 is disposed with its elements convergingand connected at their outer ends by a straight transverse portion 20,upon whichv is mounted an insulating-block 21,11aving secured thereto agroundwire 22. This ground-wire has at its inner end a loop 23, adaptedto alternately engage the screws 12 and 13, the normal positions of theelements 18 and 19 being such as to hold the block 21 at a distance fromthe bindingposts greater than the length of the ground connectionsbetween the block 21 and the loop 423. Thus will the loop be heldnormally from engagement with the screws 12 and 13. In order to engagethe loop of the ground connection with the screws of the binding-posts,itis necessary to draw the loop downwardly against the action of itsspring-supporting wire, the upward tendency of the loop under theinfluence of its wire acting to maintain a close and efficientconnection 'between the loop and the screw with which it is engaged.

The element 19 of the insulating-block for the wire is provided with avertically-disposed loop 25, through which is passed a wire 26, one endof which is bent around and incloses the element 18, said wire passingthrough the loop 25 and outwardly beyond the casing, from which point itis continued downwardly and has its lower end connected with alever 27,pivoted at its inner end to a suitable support and extending outwardlyan-d over the hook 7 and adapted to rise and fall with the loop 23 tosuch an extent as to permit, when at the limit of its upper motion, theplacing of the usual receiver 28 upon the hooks 7 and 4when at the lowerlimit of its motion to lie against or adjacent the hook 7 to prevent theplacing of the receiver thereon.

To prevent pressing the lever 27 in the direction of the casing to forcethe receiver upon the hook, the extremity of said lever is bentlaterally and then backwardly in the plane of extension of the levertand parallel wardly-extending portion of the lever 27 bewith the outerportion of its stock, this rearloo T ing adapted to engage the casingunder a very slight lmovement of the lever 27 in the direction thereof.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The instrument being in the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings andthe subscriber having been placed in circuit with another subscriber ateither side, he removes his receiver from the hook 7 and draws the loop23 downwardly and engages it with either screw 12 or 13,which willground that portion of the line not in use and leaving in active circuitonly that portion of the line between his instrument and that of thesubscriber with whom he is conversing. At this time the mechanism willbe in the position shown in Fig. l, and thus when the conversation is atan end it will be necessary for the subscriber to break theground-circuit by removal of the loop from the screw before the receivercan be hung upon its hook. This will effectively prevent leaving theline grounded when the instrument is not in use. It will. of course beunderstood that each instrument in the line is equipped with thismechanism, and also that the second subscriber, if he be not at' the endof the line, may ground his instrument for a like purpose. Theinstrument at that end of the line farthest from the central, where anexchange system is involved,will of course have no use for thisapparatus, and where a single line is employed with no exchange theinstrument at neither end will require this apparatus.

It will, furthermore, be understood that in the manufacture of thisdevice it may be made of material other than wire and may be constructedin such a manner as to present a neat appearance and withpossibly-better arrangement.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. Incombination with a telephone instrument, com p'risingline-terminals, anda switch including a receiver-supporting prong, of a ground connectionadapted for connection with the line-terminals alternately,aspringsupport for the ground connection, a lever adapted to bridge thesupporting-prongs, and a rod connected with the ground-line support andthe lever and adapted to hold the lat-ter across the prong when theground connection is engaged with a terminal.

`2. The combination with a telephone i11- struinent comprisingline-terminals, and a 4switchincluding a receiver-supporting prong,

of a lever adapted to lie across the prong at the extremities thereofand having an eXtension lying parallel therewith to prevent lateralmovement in one direction, a ground connection adapted for engagementwith the terminals alternately, a spring-support for the groundconnection, and connections between the spring-support and aleverforholding the latter in its inoperative position when the groundconnection is engaged with a terniinal.

3. The combination with a telephone instrument, comprisingline-terminals, and a switch includinga receiver-supporting prong, of aground connection adapted for connection with the line-terminalsalternately, a spring-support for the ground connection adapted to holdit normally from engagement with the terminals, a lever having one endbentto lie parallel with the body portion,said lever being adapted tobridge the prong with its bent end against the casing of the instrumentto prevent movement of the lever in one direction, and connectionsbetween said lever and the support for the ground connection.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signaturein the presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL QUEEN.

XVitnesses:

FRANK NEELY, GUINN NEELY.

